Sharpening attachment for lawn mowers



A May 30, A1933. s. E. GARBr-:R

SHARPENING ATTACHMENT'FOR LAWN MOWERS Filed May 13,

gmc/wm Patented lMay 3o, 1933 SAMUEL E. GARBEB, or BRIDGEWATER, V'IRGINIA i SHARPEING ATTACHMENT FOR LAWN MOWERS t kApplication med Tray 1a,

This invention relates to an improvement in attachments for sharpening the cutting knives of lawn mower reels. f Y

One of the objects of the invention is to 5 provide an attachment which can be readily and quickly placed in position on any standard type of lawn mower, and which can be quickly removed, if desired.

provide a construction which permits of a simple and posltive adjustment of the sharpening element so as to obtain a greater or less sharpening of the knives, as desired, or, on'4 the other hand, to remove the sharpening element out of the path of the knives wheny not in use, without removing the attachmentl from the mower. l

" Wit-h the above and various other objects in view which will become more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel combination andarrangement of features as will be-hereinafter more fully described, il-

2 lustrated in the accompanying drawing and a defined in the appended claims. y

'A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing, in which Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of alawn mower illustrating the application of the invention.

g Figure 2 ment. Y

Figure 3`is a transverse verticalsect-ional view. Y i

Figure 4 is a detail view illustrating a modified way ofV mounting the sharpening element. 40 Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing. 'v

As previously indica-ted `the present attachment may be applied to any standard type of lawn mower which includes the usual wheels W andy the cutting knives K ofthe'reel R which cooperate with the fixed blade B in the usual manner. In Figure 1, -T indicates a tie rod or cross bar which usually connects opposite wheel'frames, and it is on this rod is a top plan-view of the attach;

1932. serial No; e11,17s.

that it is proposed to mount the present novel attachment.y

' According tothe embodiment of the invention Vshown in the drawing, the same includes in its-organizat-ionan attachment barv 5 5' 1 which is provided at' its lunderside with Ya.v channel or groove 2 ywhich forms in' effect a socket for receiving the tie rod T. This sup A further object of the invention is to porting bar is preferably secured to the rod by means of the fnstenings 3 which are in 6-0 tended to be Vquickly.detachable because of the vfact that they are of hook yor J-shaped formation, as distinguished from U-sha-pedf formation, which permits of the fastenings being loosened wit-hout bein'gremoved from 65f the, bar to effect application, and disengagement of the *bar from the rodT. That i's to say, the fastenings 3 comprise ahook portion 3% and a shank portion 3b which passes through the bar 1 to receive the clamping nut '79 (3. By loosening or tightening -t-he nuts 3,

it will' be apparent that the fastenings may be removed or set in osition. Any number of fastenings 3 mavf e employed at either side of the bar 1, but as shown in Fig. 2, three fastenings have proved to be adequate in actual practice.

v One of the distinctive features ofthe i11- vention is to provide a yielding mounting for thesharpening element S which is preferably 8 in the form of a flat metallic file of relatively fine grain. As shown, this element may be provided with side grooves or channels 4 which cooperate with the fastenings or abutf ments 5 5 carried by the arms 6. One of the 85 abntments may be fixed as shown inFig'ure 3 ,and thefother may be adjustable in the slot 5.

However, whenusing files of the same size it @will be apparent that the same may bef,

placed between the abutments by sliding the y same between them. Figure 4 of the drawing .illustrates a modified form o f fixed abutment 5*. .the same being formed by bending down one end of the arm 6 which carries the fastenings. The arms 6 are preferably made of spring metal and are alsofslotted as indicated at 7 to receive 'a tensioning bolt 8 which carries a wing nut 9. The end of each arm 6 beyond the. slot 7 isl adapted to bear on the beveled 10 surfaceor inclined seat of the supporting bar 1, as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3, the said beveled surface being located at one side of the longitudinal center of the bar. Therei fore, it will be apparent that by manipulating thewing nut 9, the arm 6 may be moved upwardly or downwardly to bring the sharpening. element S into and out of engagement with the knives K. If more or less sharpening is desired, the wing -nut may-be turned so as, to press the arm 6 downwardly, or on the other hand if it is desired to operate the mower without sharpening the knives, the

nut 9 may be moved upwardly on lthe shank of the bolt 8 to permit the sharpening. element S to swing upwardly out of the path of I I the knives.

The arms 6 6,A are clamped'against the in'- clined seat or beveled surface 10 of the bar 1 by the inverted U-shaped fastenings 11' which are provided with nuts 12 arranged at the underside of the bar 1. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 it will be apparent that the arms 6 are rigidly clamped to the bar so as to prevent twisting4 or shifting thereof on thebar. By loosening the nuts 12 of the fasteningsll it will be apparent that the arms 6-6 can be 'shifted with reference to the bar, thereby properly' to locatelthe sharpening element S with reference to the crown With reference to the sharpening element S it may be pointed out that the same may be reversed, side for side to utilize both `of tie rod receiving recess on its under face,

.hook type fastenings carriedby the bar for.

securing the same to the tie rod, transversely beveled seatsformed in the upperface of the bar, spring arms mounted on said seats and having slots therein, tensioning element-s carried bythe bar adjacent said seats and pro` ject-ing through the slots in ythe arms., and a sharpeningelement carried by the ends of the arms remote from theattaching bar. l

3. A sharpening'- attachment for lawn -mowers including an attaching bar having itsupper surface provided w1th a transversely inclined seat extending partially across said surface, an arm mounted in said seat so `as to be angularly disposed with reference signature. SAMUEL GARBER.

the sharpening .faces thereof, as desired. In 1 other words, itis proposed to use a double faced flat file which provides an extensive sharpening surfaceI which materially increases the life and usefulness of the entire attachment.

. z It will of course be understood that various changes in design may be resorted to within thel scope'of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the inventionl nor sacrificing any of its advantages.

1. A sharpening attachment forlawn l mowers including an attaching bar having a flat upper face and a longitudinal tie-rod receiving recess on its underside,`transverse.

u 1y beveled faces on the upper side ofthe bar located to one side of the longitudinal center] of the bar, means carried by the bar for fastening the same to the tie rod of a lawn mower, spring arms adapted to be fitted to said beveled portions of the attaching bar,

' means for securing said arms to the bar and permitting their adjustment transversely thereof, means carried by the bar at a point opposite the bevelled faces for iiexing the arms 'with reference to the bar, and a sharpening element Ycarried by the ends of said arms remote from the attaching bar.

2. A sharpening' attachment 'for lawn mowers including an attaching bar having a i 

